The Week that Everything Fell Together
by DramaLexy
Summary: The third (and final) story in my series of AU, EO future fics. COMPLETE
1. Chapter One

TITLE: The Week That Everything Fell Together

AUTHOR: DramaLexy

SUMMARY: The third (and probably final) story in my series of AU, E/O future fics

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anyone other than Ben; don't sue, cause I'm broke

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I have returned to the much-loved pastime of fluff for this one. The January 11th episode definitely helped get my muse in gear.

I didn't establish a timeline very well with my other two fics, so I'll attempt to do so here. My first story was spanning pretty much all of the year 2005 (yeah, I know, in the beginning I didn't nail it down, but picking a specific timeline helps for the other two stories, so there it is). The second story was set in spring 2009, and this story is set in summer 2009.

Lastly, I had a few reports of confusion in the last story with who Rick was: he's Elliot's son Dickie, but I thought that by middle school, he would need a different nickname. Sorry if this turns anybody's brains into pretzels while they read; that was not my intent. ;-) And now, on with the story!!

* * *

"Lizzie! Rick! If you're not downstairs in three seconds, we're leaving without you!" Elliot yelled up the stairs of his house. "One…two…" Two sets of feet pounded down the steps. 

"Let go, people!" Ben cried. Olivia laughed, tickling him.

"It's 'let's go'," she corrected him, "But you've got the basic idea."

"Okay, are you going to dance camp today?" Elliot asked Lizzie. She shook her head. "How about you?" he asked his son. "You skipping soccer camp?"

"Yeah. We want to spend the day together." Elliot smiled. He knew the feeling. Kathleen was coming home that morning, and they were on their way to the airport to pick her up. Her initial month in Canada had been extended when the kids' grandfather had taken a turn for the worst. The last time they'd seen her was for his funeral three weeks earlier. Kathleen had stayed to help Kathy move her mother into an assisted living community, but now she was finally rejoining her family.

"Do you have your bag?" Rick asked his brother. Ben shook his head, and headed into the living room to retrieve his colorful little backpack. It was stuffed to the brim with books and toys. Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"It's not that long of a trip to the airport," she told her stepson.

"Um, yeah, but what if her plane's late or something?" Rick pointed out. "You want him bouncing off the walls?" She gave him a skeptical look, but allowed Ben to keep the bag, and they all headed for the car.

"Smooth," Lizzie whispered to her twin. He grinned.

"Thank you."

* * *

Kathleen stepped into the terminal at Kennedy Airport and smiled to herself. She wasn't a fan of the place (or airports in general) but she'd never been happier to be there. 

Her gate, of course, was at the opposite end of the concourse from the security checkpoint where she knew her family would be waiting. It took a few minutes to walk down there, but it was well worth the wait.

"Kathleen! Kathleen!" her three younger siblings were yelling as they all crowded around for hugs.

"Good to be home?" Olivia asked as she and Elliot hugged her as well.

"You have no idea. That was the longest flight ever."

They got her bags and headed for the car, but when Elliot opened the trunk to put her suitcase inside, he was surprised to find that it was already full of other bags. "What's going on?" he asked. The kids smiled.

"Surprise?" Elliot raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not a fan of surprises. Somebody start talking." The older three kids all began explaining. "One at a time!" They laughed.

"We planned a surprise trip," Kathleen told him.

"Surprise trip where?" Olivia asked.

"Florida," Lizzie supplied.

"With whose money?" Elliot suspiciously asked.

"Ours," Rick told him. "The money Grandpa left us. We put it all together, and we planned everything ourselves. Come here, little man." Ben scurried over, and Rick pulled six plane tickets out of his little brother's backpack. "See?" Elliot took them.

"These are for today. Guys, we appreciate the idea, but we can't just leave on a moment's notice. I'm supposed to be at work this afternoon."

"No, you're not," Lizzie told him.

"What?"

"We talked to Captain Cragen. Worked everything out. You're off until next Monday."

"Everybody at the one-six knew about this?" Olivia asked. Rick nodded.

"Yeah, some of them even chipped in to the vacation fund. I guess they knew you needed a break."

"Maureen helped us out with the planning," Kathleen told her father. "We think you're really going to like the place where we're staying." Elliot shook his head in disbelief.

"Remind me not to get on you guys' bad sides. You're dangerous working together."

"Can we go to beach now?" Ben asked his mother. Olivia picked him up.

"Did you really keep a secret from me?" she asked, mock stern.

"We had to bribe him with chocolate," Lizzie told her. "Lots of it."

"So what do you say, Dad?" Kathleen asked him. "Our flight leaves in an hour." He laughed.

"Half the fridge is gonna rot while we're gone, but we'll worry about it when we get back. Let's go." The kids instantly began unloading the trunk.

"How did they sneak this one by us?" Olivia asked Elliot.

"I don't know, and I don't think I want to know."

* * *

On the plane, they were sitting in two rows with one right in front of the other. Ben had never been on a plane before, so Elliot and Olivia decided to keep him with them until they knew how he would react. The older three whipped out Gameboy Advanceds and CD players, and easily kept themselves amused. 

"How it do that?" Ben asked his mother as he watched them take off, fascinated.

"Magic," Elliot told him.

The flight was pretty uneventful; Rick and Lizzie had done a good job of packing things to keep Ben occupied, and nobody got airsick. After they landed, they got a taxi-van to their hotel. The location was great, a small, quieter town just north of Daytona and right on the beach. The place had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living area and kitchen. All the kids were sharing a room to give Elliot and Olivia some much appreciated privacy.

"You guys know what you're ordering?" Olivia asked Rick and Lizzie as they all sat around a table at a local restaurant that evening. They absently nodded, totally enthralled with something on one of their Gameboys.

"Can we give the video games a rest for one night?" Elliot asked them.

"Sorry," Rick said as he put his away. "I just got to the tenth level and I wanted to show her."

"I want a hot dog," Ben told his mother, pointing to the picture on his kiddie menu.

"Okay, you can have one." Their waitress approached with their drinks, and everyone ordered their meals.

"All right, I propose a toast," Elliot said once the waitress had left. Everyone raised their glass. "To the perfect getaway."

"Hear, hear!"

TBC…


	2. Chapter Two

**AN: I know this story is taking longer than my others; I appologize. My muse isn't cooperating, and my computer is having issues with accessing I'm doing everything I can to get more updates in. Thanks for all the reviews I've gotten so far.  
**

* * *

The first thing Elliot heard when he woke up the next morning was the birds. He then remembered where he was. "Liv?" 

"Mmm?" she sleepily replied, turning over.

"Listen." She did.

"To what?"

"Exactly. Have you ever heard it this quiet at home?" She smiled.

"Maybe at two in the morning."

"It's ten."

"Okay, even if nobody else is awake, Ben would be by now."

"Exactly." He got up, and headed out into the main area of the condo. Still silent. The kids' room was empty. Just before he panicked, he noticed a piece of paper taped to their door.

Olivia looked up from her attempts to wake up when Elliot came back in their room. "What are they doing?" she asked.

"They're at the marina."

"They're what?!?"

"Yeah. Since when are my kids morning people?"

"So does that mean we've got the place to ourselves for a bit?" Elliot grinned, flopping back on the bed.

"It would seem that way."

"Fine. I'm going back to sleep." Elliot's jaw dropped, but with an innocent smile, she really did roll back over and pull the blanket back over her head.

He tickled her until she screamed. And she never did go back to sleep.

* * *

They eventually did get up and get dressed and head out to the marina to find their children. The four had rented fishing poles and were having a great time at the end of a pier. Kathleen backed away from Ben with a laugh as he teased her with some of the bait. 

"Daddy!" Lizzie called when she noticed him and Olivia.

"You guys having fun?" he asked. Everyone nodded.

"Who's caught something?" Olivia inquired.

"I got one this big," Rick told her, indicating about five inches with his hands. Lizzie beamed.

"I caught one this big," she said, specifying a fish about twice the size of her brother's.

"Wormies," Ben proclaimed, attempting to hand a couple to his mother.

"And on that note," she told him with a laugh, "If you guys are done fishing, I think you need to get cleaned up." Ben returned the worms to the little container of bait they had, and Rick and Lizzie gathered up the fishing poles. They headed down the pier, leaving Elliot and Kathleen behind.

"Have you had a good morning so far?" Kathleen asked him with a teasing smile as they watched the water. "And no, I don't want any details. A yes or no will do." Elliot smiled.

"Yes. And thank you for it."

"No problem. We know you guys never got a real honeymoon, so we're doing what we can. Besides, it was nice getting some quality time with Ben and the twins. Ben's changed so much in so little time."

"It hasn't been that little of time…You know what you're going to be doing come September?"

"CUNY for the moment. Mom didn't tell you?"

"We haven't talked much…and she probably thought you had." Kathleen looked away.

"Sorry. I wasn't keeping it from you or anything. I guess I just forgot. I haven't been thinking about the future all that much lately."

"I understand that. You had a lot of stuff going on."

"Yeah…Grandma was scaring us sometimes. She'd just sit there and she had this look on her face like you knew she was million miles away…or gone back in time." Elliot wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I guess that's how you know when you really love someone."

"How?"

"Because you're always with them, kinda, even when they're not really there." Kathleen felt a kiss on her forehead.

"You've always been with me."

"I know. I think part of me got left behind in New York. That's why I knew I'd come back, no matter how long I stayed away."

"I'm glad you are back with us. I feel like I'm looking at a totally different person right now."

"In some ways, maybe I am." Elliot nodded.

"I'm proud of you." She smiled.

"Thanks."

"Come on," he said, slipping his hand into hers. "Let's go catch up with everyone else."

* * *

That afternoon, Olivia and Ben watched from a beach towel on the shore while Elliot and the kids played in the water. "You sure you don't want to try it?" she asked her son. Ben vehemently shook his head; he'd always been afraid of the ocean. "We can hold hands the whole time." Another shaken head. 

"I'll hold your hand, too," Lizzie called over her offer as she stood with a boogie board in shallow water.

"Me, too," Rick added as he joined his sister. Kathleen, having overheard them, laughed.

"He's only got two hands!"

"You want Daddy to take you?" Elliot asked as he sat down beside his wife and youngest. Ben shook his head again.

"You know, the water here's a lot warmer than the water in New York," Olivia tried again.

"No."

"You don't have to be scared of the waves," Elliot told him. "We won't let go of you if you don't want us to." Ben shook his head so hard he almost toppled over.

"I'm not goin' in."

"Okay, okay." With shrugs, Lizzie and Rick returned to boogie boarding. Kathleen stayed in the water to keep an eye on them. Ben started digging a hole in the sand.

"Are you looking for China?" Elliot asked.

"Pirates," Ben informed his father.

"I don't think there are any pirates here." Ben grinned, and with reflexes faster than any toddler should possess, grabbed his father's sunglasses and dropped them in the hole. Olivia stopped the little boy before he could bury them.

"Buried treasure," Ben explained.

"I don't think so, mister."

They all looked up at a cry of "Whoa!" and turned their attention to the waves in time to see Rick's board go flying up into the air – without him on it. The wave brought him all the way in to shore, and was laughing when he stood up.

"That was so cool," he proclaimed before using the wrist cord to retrieve his board and heading back out through the break zone. Ben turned to Elliot.

"Can I do that, too?"

* * *

Once the sun had set, the temperature cooled slightly, making it bearable to be outside and not be in the water. Elliot and Olivia sat out on their deck, listening to the sounds of the kids playing Frisbee on the beach. 

"I don't know how we're ever supposed to go back to our real lives," Olivia said. Elliot laughed.

"Don't think about that right now."

"Believe me, I don't want to." Cheers could be heard about a particularly good catch out in the sand.

"I'm still in awe," Elliot revealed. "I mean…they could have gotten new computers, new video game systems, new MP3 players, ballet shoes, soccer balls, clothes, music – whatever, and they all decided to do this instead. I can't believe that to two twelve-year-olds and an eighteen-year-old, spending time with their family meant this much." Olivia smiled.

"We're all lucky to have each other."

"Yeah...I'm glad Kathleen's not going far in the fall. I mean, I just got her back; I don't want to lose her again. It seems like everything's going so fast. Can you believe that Rick and Lizzie are almost teenagers? And next fall, Ben's starting school? And the year after that, the twins are gonna be in high school?"

"You're wishing their lives away." Elliot laughed.

"I'm not wishing anything away! I'd jump in a time machine if I could."

"Does it seat two?"

"Sure." They smiled as the kids joined them. Kathleen was carrying a very sleepy looking Ben.

"It looks like it's time for bed, buddy, huh?" she asked, standing up and taking him from her stepdaughter.

"Night, little man," Rick told him. The girls also called goodbyes. Alone with their father, the kids lounged around on the deck as well. Lizzie laid her head on Kathleen's lap, and she began braiding her little sister's hair.

"You have fun today?" Elliot asked them.

"Yeah," Lizzie told him. "I like the beach. I wanna live at it when I grow up."

"Not me," Rick countered. "I like cities."

"How about you?" Elliot asked Kathleen.

"I don't know. I wouldn't mind living on the water, or in a city, or in the mountains, or whatever. I'm not picky." Elliot grinned.

"Since when?" Kathleen stuck her tongue out.

"I just hope we don't scatter to the ends of the earth," she told her siblings. "I don't want to be that far away from you guys."

"Me, too," Lizzie agreed.

"Me, three," Rick added. Elliot smiled.

"Me, four."

TBC…


	3. Chapter Three

Just wanted to say YAY for Mariska winning a Golden Globe! That (and the Patriots/Colts game) made my weekend. And now, on with the story...

* * *

The boardwalk was their destination the next day after sleeping late and having breakfast together. An arcade caught Rick's eye, and pretty soon he and Elliot were competing at some shooting game (Olivia would have been shocked if Rick came close to beating his father), Kathleen and Lizzie were competing at DDR-2, and Ben was happily playing a driving game. He didn't even need money to be inserted in order to enjoy himself; he just loved playing with the steering wheel, and was unaware that he wasn't creating the action on the screen. 

"Hey, we ought to get our pictures taken," Lizzie told Kathleen as they finished with their game and she noticed a photo booth.

"I don't think we'd all fit," Kathleen told her. "I've tried having photo booth stuffing contests with my friends before. Someone's always missing a head."

"That's what makes it fun," Lizzie protested. Her sister smiled.

"Why don't you round up the boys and do it with them?" And she finally conceded.

"I think all four of you would have fit if you got creative," Olivia told her stepdaughter as she joined her on a bench. Kathleen shrugged.

"Less people to fight over who gets to keep the film strip when we're done."

"True."

"Three's easier than four," Kathleen said, almost absently, watching her father referee her siblings. Olivia took her hand.

"Three may be quieter than four on occasion, or eat less food than four, or even buy fewer clothes. But four is what we've got, and we wouldn't change that for anything. And by the time you've gotten to three, one more isn't noticeably any harder." Kathleen smiled.

"I guess you better be the one to keep an eye on the clock, since all of us Stablers are genetically prone to being late." Olivia smiled.

"No arguments, but why am I keeping an eye on the clock?"

"Well, you don't want to be late for dinner, do you?"

* * *

And the surprises kept coming. Elliot and Olivia had an unexpected reservation at a restaurant in town – a nice one – as a belated anniversary present. The one-six had said they would foot the bill. Kathleen was taking the younger three to the movies, and promised to get everyone to bed herself; Elliot and Olivia didn't have anything to worry about for the evening. And they had to admit, it was a nice feeling. 

"So I'm thinking back on it now," Olivia told Elliot as they waited for their food. "Did we ever go out for a night like this before we got married?" His glass of iced tea stopped halfway to his mouth as he looked up, surprised.

"We had to have."

"I don't know. We had stolen weekends at your apartment when Kathy had the kids, or late night movies, again, at your apartment. Dinners with the kids, days in the park, but I don't think you ever took me out alone, Stabler. I mean, we got drinks sometimes, but that doesn't count because we always did that." Elliot laughed.

"Maybe that's what happens when you fall in love with your best friend; all the work's already done. But seriously, Liv, if this kinda thing is what you like, we'll do it more often." She smiled.

"I'm just messing with you, Elliot. Besides the fact that our bank account probably couldn't handle us doing it more often, the only thing I need is time with you; it doesn't matter where it is." Their waiter appeared with their food. "Split?" Olivia asked, and Elliot nodded. With an ease that came from years of experience, they both split their meals with each other.

They got drinks and dessert after they finished, since neither one of them had to worry about driving. Elliot picked up his glass once it arrived. "I know we did this a couple weeks ago, but oh well. To three years of marriage, ten years of friendship, and many more of both to come." Olivia smiled, clinking her glass with his.

"Many more."

* * *

They were both slightly feeling the effects of the alcohol by the time their cab dropped them off. They'd gone for a walk on the beach before heading back to where they were staying, and it was now late enough that the kids were probably all in bed. Elliot smiled when he got to his and Olivia's bedroom and saw the handmade 'Do Not Disturb' sign taped to the doorknob. 

"What are we going to do with them?" he asked her. She smiled.

"How about we not worry about them so much until morning?"

* * *

There were two things in life that Rick proclaimed he couldn't live without: soccer and video games. And since some of his favorite video games involved racing, Elliot decided to take him and Ben over to the Daytona Speedway the next day to see what they could see. Olivia, Kathleen and Lizzie were left to have some 'girl time' and soon wound up simply relaxing out on the beach. 

"I'm sure you already know this at your ages," Olivia told the girls, "But I'm gonna say it anyway: make sure you've got enough sunscreen on."

"I've learned my lesson," Kathleen told her. They'd gone on a trip to the beach when Ben was a baby and she'd wound up looking like a lobster by the end of the day.

All three looked up when a volleyball landed in the sand only a few feet away from them. A guy about Kathleen's age ran over to retrieve it. "Sorry," he said before rejoining his five other friends around the net. Kathleen just stared as he went.

"Whoa," she finally said. "Shirtless should be the fashion trend in New York, too."

"Trust me," Olivia told her. "I know a lot of guys in New York that you would not want to see shirtless." They all dissolved into giggles.

* * *

Elliot, Rick, and Ben had headed for DaytonaUSA for their afternoon of male bonding. There had been a 3D movie playing at the IMAX theater that Rick insisted upon them seeing. Elliot had been worried that Ben would freak out at the loud production, but he'd done fine, and was now sitting atop his father's shoulders as Elliot and Rick walked through the exhibits. 

"Hey!" he exclaimed when the little boy grabbed his ears. "Those aren't handles!" Ben giggled and wrapped his arms around Elliot's head, covering his eyes. "Okay, that's it, you little mischief-maker," he said as he swung Ben down and carried him under one arm. "You think we could fit him in one of those tires?" he asked Rick. He pretended to think about it, taking a couple mock hand-measurements of his brother.

"More than likely."

"You wanna go spinning around the racetrack in one of those at two hundred miles per hour?" Elliot asked Ben.

"Yeah!!!" Rick rolled his eyes.

"You get motion sick on carousels, stupid."

"I not stupid!"

"All right, break it up," Elliot told them. "You want to try Acceleration Alley?" he asked Rick, motioning to the simulator ride. He smiled.

"Can I? The line's kinda long." Elliot shrugged.

"We're here, aren't we? What would be the point in not doing the things we want to do?"

"Me, too?" Ben asked.

"I think you're a little small," Elliot told him with a smile. "Live vicariously through your brother." Rick grinned impishly.

"You know, you can get a license to drive a race car before you can get a real license."

"Don't even think about it," Elliot automatically told him.

* * *

After dinner that night, the whole family could be found playing mini-golf under the setting sun. Elliot looked up from the shot he was about to make when a chorus of very fake coughs and sneezes came from the four children standing behind him. "Sorry," Kathleen told him with a smile. "Didn't mean to break your concentration." He just shook his head and went back to lining up his shot. Just before he swung at the ball, another sneeze was heard. The ball went wide, missing the space it was supposed to go through. Elliot turned to his wife with a glare. 

"I'm sorry," Olivia said with a laugh, holding up her hands in surrender. "It wasn't on purpose, I swear."

"Yeah, right. I think you've all got a conspiracy going to keep me from ever being anything other than last place." Rick shook his head.

"Nah. Ben's finally old enough to play. He's got you beat for last without even trying." Kathleen playfully smacked him upside the head.

"Don't count him out yet," she said as she went back to assisting Lizzie with getting Ben set.

"Hold it like this," Lizzie was telling the little boy, putting her hands over his as she stood behind him. "Pull back," she demonstrated, "And swing." Elliot watched in amazement as the ball went into the tunnel that it was supposed to.

"Nuh-uh," he said. "That was cheating. Let's see him make that shot without you holding the club for him."

"It doesn't say we can't help him," Kathleen sweetly told him, holding up the side of the score card that had the rules.

"That doesn't matter! That thing says that you're not supposed to have more than four people on one team, and do you see anyone listening to that? I want a redo."

"It's like elections," Lizzie told her father. "There are no redos. Come on, sport." Ben just laughed as he headed for the far end of the course with his brother and sisters.

"You see this?" Elliot asked Olivia, mock-incredulous. She was standing to the side, a smile on her face as she took in the scene, and nodded in response.

"Yep." They both watched the kids cheer and shout as they all tried to get their balls in the cup. "I still have trouble believing this is real sometimes," Olivia whispered after a long moment.

"You got any regrets?" he quietly asked. She turned to him, a small smile on her face.

"Yeah." He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure there have been enough moments like the one we're watching right now." Elliot kissed her forehead.

"We'll spend the rest of our lives making more. I promise you that." Olivia smiled.

"I'm gonna hold you to it."

* * *

FIN. For real this time, lol. Thanks for taking the trip with me. I hope you enjoyed it. If you haven't done so already, PLEASE leave me a note on what you thought. And even if you have already done it, what's stopping you from doing it again! :-) 


End file.
